Astronomy today is of interest not only to schoolchildren. Discoveries that expand our knowledge of space attract the attention of adults as well. Interesting facts about the planets are published in popular magazines. And this is not surprising, since the availability of the results of the study of space objects increases the number of curious people who want to know a little more about the vast expanse of the Universe. Below are examples of amazing facts related to the solar system.
Classification
All the planets circling in orbit around our star are divided into two types: belonging to the terrestrial group and gas giants. They differ in composition, size and some other characteristics. The earth group includes our house, as well as Mercury, Venus and Mars. Most of the listed planets are composed of silicates and metals. The size of these cosmic bodies is significantly inferior to the dimensions of the gas giants, as can be seen from the name. The latter include Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The main substances in their composition are hydrogen and helium. Pluto nowdeprived of the status of a planet and classified as a Kuiper belt object - icy witnesses of the formation of the solar system, located in space beyond Neptune.
Conditional surface
In the study of information about the gas giants, interesting facts await at every turn. A lot is known about the giant planets, and every detail is amazing primarily because it always emphasizes their great difference from the Earth.
You can start with the fact that on these planets there is no surface in the usual sense for us. The density here is so low that there is no clear distinction between atmosphere, mantle and core. The boundary of the surface is determined by scientists by the magnitude of the pressure: it is where the level is set at one bar. In fact, a mixture of gases extends both in this area and below.
Lord of the Seas
Interesting facts about the planet Neptune explain why it was given this name. The color of the cosmic body is saturated blue. The beautiful hue is due to the properties of the methane clouds in the giant's atmosphere: they absorb red-orange light. Before the final choice of the name, several more options were put forward, but through the efforts of one of the discoverers of the planet Urbain Laverier and the director of the Pulkovo Laboratory N. Ya. Struve, the name of the Roman sea deity was assigned to it.
Neptune, like all gas giants, has satellites. The largest of them, Triton, is no less impressive than the gas giant itself, although it is inferior to it in size. The satellite rotates in the directionopposite to the movement of Neptune around the axis, has an atmosphere. There are supposedly active gas geysers on the surface. On Triton, a significant part of the landscape is formed by ice: methane, ammonia and water. The latter, at a low temperature characteristic of the satellite, becomes hard as a stone and forms entire mountain ranges.
Frozen Planet
Uranus, along with Neptune, is one of the ice giants, since they, like Triton, contain a large number of frozen inclusions. He contributes a lot to interesting facts about the planets. Uranus was the first major discovery since the invention of the telescope. As a result of its discovery, the idea of the structure of the solar system, which has existed since antiquity, has been changed. So, interesting facts about the planet Uranus:
- The gas giant rotates around its axis in a non-standard direction: from east to west. Apart from it, only Venus has such a feature in the solar system.
- The plane of the planet's equator is strongly inclined relative to the axis of rotation. The angle between them exceeds 90º, so Uranus spins like a ball rolling on the floor. The rest of the planets are more like a spinning top in this sense.
- Like all gas giants, Uranus rotates very fast. It takes just over 17 hours for one rotation.
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The planet has 27 moons, all named after characters from Shakespeare and Pope.
interesting facts about the planet Uranus
First among equals
Interesting facts about planets-the giants Saturn and Jupiter are also known in considerable numbers, as they are the best studied of the space giants. Jupiter is 318 times the mass of Earth. Its most famous feature is a large red spot, observed since the middle of the 17th century. According to scientists, this is a huge hurricane-anticyclone. For all the time while it is being observed, the spot either fades, then again gains brightness. This is due to the constant collision of hurricanes in the atmosphere of Jupiter.
Saturn is famous for its ring system. By the way, every giant has them, but it is Saturn that has the brightest ones. It also has one more feature - a hexagon formed by clouds in the atmosphere. Presumably, this is a vortex that appears as a result of the difference in the speed of the planet and its rings. Until the end, however, the nature of education is not clear.
Miracles in the earth group
Interesting facts about planets closer to ours are somewhat different from reports about gas giants due to their different characteristics. At the same time, there are similar moments. For example, Venus, like Uranus, rotates counterclockwise. The sun rises in the west here. But the foggy planet spends more time on rotation around the axis: the length of the day exceeds the length of the year. But interesting facts about the planet Venus are not limited to this:
- it can be seen with the naked eye twice, in the morning and in the evening, after the Moon and the Sun it is the brightest point in the sky;
- the surface of the planet is hidden from observation by dense clouds, nottransmitting visible light, therefore, data on Venus are mainly obtained using radar methods;
- the temperature on the planet reaches 480ºC and stays almost unchanged throughout the year;
- high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere creates a greenhouse effect on Venus.
Red neighbor
Explorations of space closest to the Earth are constantly replenishing interesting facts about the planet Mars. In a sense, they began to study it even before it became possible to send the first spacecraft: several meteorites that arrived from Mars were discovered on Earth. The planet lives up to its name not only with its coloration, but also with constant strong dust storms. They last several months and cover the entire planet, like a world war.
Mars is also famous for being the tallest mountain in the solar system. They called it Olympus. It rises above the surface for more than 20 km.
Home home
It would be wrong, when listing interesting facts about the planets, to skip the Earth. Its features include not only life and huge water surfaces. This is the only planet whose name does not correspond to any Roman or Greek deity. Its satellite - the Moon - is the largest among all the companions of the terrestrial planets.
Many interesting facts about the planet Earth are sometimes unknown even to its inhabitants. For example, the weight of a person depends on his location: heincreases in the South Pacific and decreases in southern India. This difference is one of the mysteries of the planet.
The Earth's atmosphere protects life on it from the effects of ultraviolet radiation and solar wind. The gas envelope also saves us from the fall of most meteorites: they burn out in the upper layers without causing harm. At the same time, about 100 tons of cosmic dust, formed as a result of collisions of asteroids and meteorites, falls on the surface of the Blue Planet every day.
However, the most amazing phenomenon of the Earth is still life. Studying the many facts that scientists have managed to collect about the Universe helps to understand how incredible it is that we exist. The vast expanses of explored space are lifeless, the hope that somewhere far away, perhaps beyond the galaxy, there is another civilization is very small. A longing desire to find life on other planets and a deep sense of loneliness (humanity in the universe) are some of the driving forces that motivate astronomers to collect new facts, send spacecraft, design alien conditions in the laboratory.
